Page 76 of Midnight Witch

To his surprise, Gloria didn’t look overly shocked by Mae’s assertion. She sighed. “How about you tell me how you triggered the spell in the first place?”

Mae gave her a brief rundown of the events of the last week.

Gloria’s expression grew focused when she mentioned their return to Marblehead Neck. “You saw a vision of Anya and the altar when you touched the ground?”

Mae nodded.

Gloria frowned. “They must be really close.”

Nikolai’s pulse quickened.

“You mean, to the island?!” Mae exclaimed.

Gloria dipped her head. “For you to have had that vision means that church’s true location has to be within a ten, maybe twenty-mile radius of where you first saw it. And it’s rare for a spell to be fully effective if the original altar is too far away.” Her frown deepened. “Mendes is wrong. There are two ways to end an Illusion Sorcery spell. Either the witch or sorcerer who created it has to retract it before the midnight hour of the next full moon. Or someone more powerful than they are needs to break the altar where it was conjured.”

Nikolai’s eyes widened, his surprise echoed by Mae’s stunned look.

“We’re two hours from Boston.” Vlad’s jaw tightened. “We won’t make it there on time. The Harvest Moon will peak in ninety minutes.”

“Shit,” Violet mumbled.

Mae’s shoulders slumped. Brimstone whined next to her.

“That church will be next to a powerful source of magic,” Gloria said, undaunted.

Nikolai’s stomach lurched at the meaning behind her words.

“Wait.” Hope brightened Mae’s face. “Do you mean a nexus?!”

Gloria bobbed her head. She cut her eyes to Nikolai. “You should be able to reach that church if you locate it and use that teleportation spell of yours.” Lines wrinkled her brow. “Something of Anya’s would help you find it faster. That nexus will likely hold a vestige of her magic.”

“Oh.” Mae blinked. “Sable is Anya’s familiar.”

She indicated the harpy eagle with a grimace. Gloria sucked in air.

“And I have this stone,” Nikolai added awkwardly. He took out the item he’d stolen from Oscar. “It was covered in runes made of blue fire when I first saw it.”

Gloria scowled. “Why didn’t you start with that, you fools?!”

Jared sighed. Alicia rolled her eyes.

A growl rumbled out of Brimstone’s throat. Crimson flared around the fox. He rose from where he’d been lying at Mae’s feet.

Tension knotted Mae’s shoulders. She turned to face the door of the trailer, her expression grim. “They’ve found us.”

Gloria paled.

A faint whiff of corruption brushed against Nikolai’s senses. His insides twisted.

He recognized the Dark Council’s magic.

Hellreaver dropped from Mae’s neck and transformed, a red aura coating his blades.

“Raise your shields!” Mae warned. “Now!”

Alastair squawked on Nikolai’s shoulder as he drew on their magic. Barriers erupted inside the trailer a second before a barrage of black magic spell bombs rocked the vehicle.

CHAPTER31

---